The Liberty Corporation was a media

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

originally based in

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...

. At its peak, Liberty owned 15

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-affiliated

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

s across the

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and

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regions of the

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. Cable advertising sales group CableVantage Inc., video production facility Take Ten Productions and broadcast equipment distributor Broadcast Merchandising Corporation were also some of its assets. Liberty was founded in 1919 when W. Frank Hipp, a former top agent at Spartanburg-based Southeastern Life Insurance Company, struck out on his own. Within a decade, Liberty had grown large enough to buy his former employer. It entered broadcasting in 1930, when it bought WIS in Columbia—the start of what would become the Broadcasting Company of the South, renamed Cosmos Broadcasting in 1965. Under Francis Hipp, who succeeded his father in 1943, Liberty reorganized as a holding company, The Liberty Corporation, in 1967. Liberty sold its insurance subsidiaries, Liberty Life and Pierce National Life, to

Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; french: Banque royale du Canada) is a Canadian multinational financial services company and the largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 17 million clients and has more than 89,000& ...

in 2000. Cosmos was then folded directly into the Liberty banner. After the sale of its insurance division, the company employed approximately 1,400 people. The executive officers included

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

W. Hayne Hipp (who, with his family, owned about 25% of the company before its sale to Raycom Media), president and

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James M. Keelor, CFO Howard L. Schrott. On August 25, 2005, Liberty agreed to be bought out by Raycom Media. Raycom paid $987 million, or $47.35 per Liberty share, and assumed Liberty's debts of approximately $110 million in the buyout. The acquisition was completed on January 31, 2006. After closing the deal, Raycom sold a number of stations, including two from the Liberty portfolio. They included ABC affiliate

WWAY WWAY (channel 3) is a television station in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with ABC, CBS, and The CW Plus. Owned by Morris Multimedia, the station has studios on Magnolia Village Way in Leland, and its transmitter is loca ...

-TV in Wilmington, North Carolina to

Morris Multimedia Morris may refer to: Places Australia *St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Manitob ...

and CBS affiliate

KGBT-TV KGBT-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Harlingen, Texas, United States, serving the Lower Rio Grande Valley as a primary Antenna TV owned-and-operated station and a secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate. It is owned by Nexstar Media ...

Harlingen, Texas Harlingen ( ) is a city in Cameron County in the central region of the Rio Grande Valley of the southern part of the U.S. state of Texas, about from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The city covers more than and is the second-largest city in ...

Barrington Broadcasting Barrington Broadcasting Group, LLC, headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois was an American corporation focused on broadcast television, primarily in middle and small size media markets. Barrington owned or operated via duopoly twenty-four televi ...

Former Liberty Stations

* (**) – ''Indicates that it was built and signed on by Liberty''. *(++) – ''Indicates a station that was owned by Orion Broadcasting prior to its merger with Cosmos/Liberty in 1981.'' Note: *¹ Raycom acquired WMBF's construction permit from Liberty, prior to the station's sign-on in 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberty Corporation Companies based in South Carolina Companies based in Greenville, South Carolina Defunct companies based in South Carolina Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States Mass media companies disestablished in 2006 2006 mergers and acquisitions Gray Television Mass media companies established in 1919 1919 establishments in South Carolina 2006 disestablishments in South Carolina